The present invention is in the field of pet supplies and pertains more particularly to a collar apparatus for enabling tethering and subsequent walking of a pet snake away from its enclosure.
There are many snake owners that do not spend much time handling their snakes. This is largely because they must hold them constantly while handling them for fear of losing control of them. Letting a snake go in a living room or outside can result in loss of the snake as it may slither into a crevice, hole, or other hideaway unnoticed making it difficult if not impossible to retrieve the snake.
As a result, most snakes are kept indoors year round under less than optimum lighting conditions (artificial light). It would be beneficial if snake owners could spend some outdoor time with their animals as it is known that natural sunlight and the warmth it produces is very beneficial to the epidermal health of any reptile. For example, a reptile getting more sunlight will have a better skin condition than one kept in the dark or in low light conditions.
Standard animal collars such as designed for dogs and cats as well as other legged animals are not designed for the body style of a snake because the snake has no external appendages. A snake exhibits concertina motion wherein the belly muscles of the snake act in concert to propel the snake in a forward direction. This type of forward motion is unique to a snake and is independent of any side-to-side serpentine movement. The concertina motion of a snake coupled with an ability to alter the shape of it""s circumference enables it to move through and escape any known annular restraint such as a neck-style collar.
Also, because of the ability of a snake to gradually change in size (circumference) due to food conditions and normal growth, it would be extremely difficult to collar the animal with a prior-art style collar that would always fit the animal.
In prior art there are no apparatus designed for collaring a snake so that it may be casually handled giving the snake freedom to move about without being held in the physical hands on sense.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is a collar apparatus and mechanism that enables a user to collar a snake securely such that it may be tethered and allowed to move about un-hindered in any area away from the snake""s enclosure.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a collar apparatus is provided for collaring a snake. The collar apparatus comprises, an elongated collar section forming a physical collar when wrapped around the circumference of a strategic body portion of the snake, a support section associated with the collar section, the support section for supporting an attachment mechanism for accepting attachment of a tether and a connector system comprising at least two components affixed to strategic portions of the elongated section for securing the collar in place around the strategic body portion of the snake. The length of the collar section is such that a portion thereof overlaps itself when fitted around the snake providing an adjustable interface containing separate components of the connector system whereby mating the connector components together secures the collar in place on the snake.
In a preferred aspect, the association of the support section with the collar section of the collar apparatus comprises components of the same material formed contiguously the support section occupying one end of the elongated section. Also in a preferred aspect, the attachment mechanism for accepting attachment of the tether is a ring supported by the material of the collar apparatus. In one aspect, the support section contains an elongated opening of a length longer than the width of the collar section such that the free end of the collar section may be inserted there through.
In another aspect of the present invention, a concertina movement-neutralization device is provided for reducing concertina movement of a snake through a collar apparatus, the collar apparatus having an elongated collar section forming a physical collar when wrapped around the circumference of a strategic body portion of the snake; a support section associated with the collar section, the support section for supporting an attachment mechanism for accepting attachment of a tether; and a connector system comprising at least two components affixed to strategic portions of the elongated collar section for securing the collar in place around the strategic body portion of the snake. The concertina movement-neutralization device comprises, in a preferred aspect, a plurality of lengths of bead-chain arranged in substantially parallel rows, the beads enabled to rotate around their axis in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the collar section of the collar apparatus, wherein concertina movement forced against the beads causes the beads to rotate about their axis"" reducing forward displacement of the snake through the collar apparatus.
In one aspect, the beads are elongated. In another aspect, the beads are annular. In one embodiment, the concertina movement-neutralization device is affixed to the collar section of the collar apparatus by sewing. In another aspect, the concertina movement-neutralization device is affixed to the collar section of the collar apparatus by staples. In yet another aspect, the concertina movement-neutralization device is affixed to the collar section of the collar apparatus by plastic snap-rings.
In still another aspect of the invention, a system for enabling collaring, tethering, and walking of a snake is provided the system comprising, a collar apparatus for collaring the snake, the collar apparatus including an elongated section forming a physical collar when wrapped around the circumference of a strategic body portion of the snake, a support section associated with the collar section, the support section for supporting an attachment mechanism for accepting attachment of a tether and a connector system comprising at least two components affixed to strategic portions of the elongated section for securing the collar in place around a strategic body portion of the snake, a tether for attaching to the collar apparatus, and an elongated rod having a handle section strategically located at one end and a hook affixed to the end opposite the end supporting the handle section.
A user placing and securing the collar apparatus on a snake attaches the tether to the collared animal enabling the user to release the snake under control of the attached tether and wherein the elongated rod is used to provide an extra measure of control for retrieving the tethered snake or when changing the direction of movement of the tethered snake.
In still another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for collaring and tethering snake so that it may be released under control of the tether. The method includes the steps of (a) positioning and securing a collar apparatus around the circumference of the snake a strategic location on the snake""s body, (b) attaching a tether to the collar apparatus, and (c) releasing the snake under user control via the attached tether.
In a preferred aspect in step (a), the collar apparatus comprises an elongated collar section forming a physical collar when wrapped around the circumference of a strategic body portion of the snake, a support section associated with the collar section, the support section for supporting an attachment mechanism for accepting attachment of a tether and a connector system comprising at least two components affixed to strategic portions of the elongated section for securing the collar in place around a strategic body portion of the snake.
In one aspect in step (a) the collar apparatus further comprises a concertina movement-neutralization device for reducing concertina movement of the snake through the collar apparatus.
Now for the first time, a collar apparatus and tethering system is provided for application to a snake enabling snake owners to collar, tether and safely release their snakes under control of the tether enabling the animal to move freely about without being handled in the hands-on sense and without fear of losing the animal.